My guest today is Taj Uppal, an animal rights activist and lawyer. We recorded this conversation while Taj was facing two felony charges and more than six years in prison for rescuing two baby goats from an industrial dairy farm in California. Since recording, a judge has reduced those charges to misdemeanours. The case is not over, but the most serious threat discussed in the episode has now been removed, which is great news. Nonetheless the consequences for Taj have been substantial, including losing a job offer at a major law firm and potentially putting his legal career at risk.
In this episode, we have a pretty personal and reflective conversation about civil disobedience and open rescue and the role these tactics have in helping animals. Taj explains why he no longer sees direct action as a silver bullet, but still believes that the sacrifice it involves can generate dialogue, give activists credibility and be a deeply transformative, even spiritual, experience.
We also discuss when civil disobedience is most likely to work, why it should often come after other campaigning methods have been exhausted and the legal, practical and community infrastructure needed to support people taking these risks. We even reverse the interview for a while, with Taj asking me about my own experiences with Extinction Rebellion and Animal Rebellion. This is a topic very close to my background, so I really enjoyed having this conversation with Taj, and thought it was a pretty interesting and even coverage of some of the benefits and risks of taking more high-risk action.
A quick plug, unrelated to this great conversation with Taj: A group I volunteer with, UK Voters for Animals, is hosting a mass lobby day on the 10th of November, where we're bringing over 100 people to Parliament to meet their MPs about ending frankenchickens, which is a cruel fast-growing breed of chicken. We had over 100 people come last year, with 30 meetings with MPs, which was a huge success for the first-ever mass lobby day for animals. This year, we want it to be even bigger, so if you're in the UK and want to come along, you can sign up here.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:08:24) Facing trial for open rescue
(00:10:19) The other personal impacts of rescue
(00:17:39) Why this farm? Why these goats?
(00:22:17) Why sacrifice matters
(00:35:06) How the hardship has shaped Taj
(00:39:49) James' civil disobedience story
(00:45:24) Taking action despite uncertainty
(00:52:28) What can we learn from Ridgeland farms?
Resources:
With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!
Note: My (James') views here are my personal opinions and don't represent those of Coefficient Giving.
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